All you have to do to enter is share a pleasant experience you have had with coins. It could be simple like spending time with a relative, a cherrypick etc. The prize is a bausch and lomb 5x packette magnifying glass. These are great magnifying lenses, so good in fact that I have purchased many. Contest ends a week from today, and it will be a random drawing.
Good experience...Finding a Buffalo Nickel in a Hardware store when I was 5 to kick off my coin collecting craze. Other than that, finding a 1895-O Morgan in G-4 for $30 (3 years ago)
Same here. was about 5 years old and dug p a 3 legged buffalo Nickel/ It was the begining of my life long calling. Keep your prize..
Being able to tell a guy one day that his collection of Dimes that he thought might be worth $24 was worth around $1000---it was a set of 1916-1945 dimes and the 1916-D was in really good shape---even though it wasn't mine it was fun and I enjoyed watching his face! Speedy
Back in my high school days, my mother came home one evening from volunteering in a youth sporting event concession stand with 3 rolls of quarters and 4 rolls of dimes ALL SILVER! The bank providing the change handed her some really old rolls and she said she noticed the "sound" right away when she was dumping the rolls in the change box. She quickly bought some additional rolls of quarters to replace everything she gave to me. There were many mercs and even a standing Liberty quarter in the rolls. So began my circulated silver coin albums.... Thank you, Mom!
Ahhhh, going to flea markets and coin shops with my mom. She wasn't really a collector, by any means, but she nurtured my interest in coins when I was young. We'd buy several silver coins and talk about them when we got home. My mom is no longer alive, but those memories will last the remainder of my lifetime.
I enjoy going to shops and shows and chatting with the people. I enjoy learning as much as possible. I aslo love to cherrypick when I can. Thanks, SM
My 9 year old grand son was watching me go through some coins and putting them in a book. he asked if he could have a book to collect coins with me . I bought him a book and we were putting some cents in it when his twin brother came up and wanted to know where his was . He had told me before that he didn't want one . I asked him what he wanted , he replied a quarter book. His brother replied that he had to start with cents and work his way up just like him . I how have 2 grand son's that are starting on I hope a long love of collecting coins .
Some of my best ones are to find ultra junk silver coins, yes as in ultra junk ones, holed, damaged, ruined, worn etc, and yet be able to tell some interesting stories behind it. Not only were they cheap because of the damage but as well as to able to find unusual stories behind them. For example, I was able to find a 1720 damaged ruble that a seller was willing to sell extreme cheap only to find out that it had an edge error that shows that it's from 1719! (I must thank the sellers for willing to sell junk silver for real cheap, else they could have been in the metal refinery any time)
The first time my uncle showed me his copy of Walter Breen's Encyclopedia of United States Half Cents, AKA the Big Red Book, comes to mind. I was probably nine or ten. I had never imagined there could be so many varieties for a single series, let alone a single book dedicated to them! That was the beginning of my addiction to them, which most recently led me to cherrypick an 1808/7 Cohen 1. Fish
When my Grandfather found out that I was interested in coins, he dug out a bunch of old coins that his parents had collected. It was great to look through them with him. I brought over my books and was able to tell him how much many of them were worth. I think he was shocked. It was lots of fun!
I recently bought my 5 year old daughter a State Quarters map where you put the quarter in the state. We went through all the change in the house looking for different states, found maybe 10, talked about what the designs meant on each, and put them in. Later that day I went to buy a box of cents at the bank and took her along, as I stood in line she asked why we were there, I told her and she responded that if I'm going to get pennies I should get rolls of quarters as well so she could keep working on her map. I recognized the mad gleam in her eyes....
i already said this in another post and here it is m sure everone here has a story similir to mine but whatever its still prety cool my dad was talking with someone about how i collect coins and love just looking at them and he said his wife had collection she got from her grandad. So he asked if i could look at them and estimate the value. so the next day she brought them 2 my house and wowo i was surprised. she came with a big plastic bag that had 8 gold coins from 1910 and older 2 2.50 indians and 2 5.00 libs 2 1.00 from like 1860 and older and the best for last 1 classic head 2.50 lib 1839 O and a 1861 2.50 lib so i said i think you should send the classic head the 1861 the indians and the1.00 coins to a professenal grader i estemited the vaule for the 1839 at 5k to 10k and the indians as like 500 each and same with the 1.00s so we went to the coin store and well she FORGOT 1 indian and 1 1.00 i was dispointed by him saying dont get the indian and the rest graded so she sent the 1839 O and 1861 to NGC and they came back the 1839 O ms 61 or 62 ( i forget) and at the store they offered 11k for it she said no and the 1861 came back ms 64 and they offered 1100 at the store she said no again so in a plastic bag i found 2 extermly valube coins that they forgot existed thats prety cool right? sorry for my rambling also is anyone going to the baltimore coin show? Edit/Delete Message
Stealing my dad's mercury dimes and buying candy at the local corner store. It was a very pleasant memory for many years until I grew up and realized how dumb I had been as a kid. Hey, I had my moment.
I love to cherry pick coins and varieties. Three years ago, after looking for years, within three months, I was able to cherry pick three (yes 3) 1858/7 flying eagle cents at a coin show, from three different dealers. They are now each in ANACS slabs: first: F-15, cost $20; XF-45, light clean on obverse: cost $100; and a VF-20, ANACS says corroded, but VERY slight, cost: $15. Also, I cherried, are you ready: 1909 S, VDB, as a 1909 S, now in a NGC F-12 slab, cost: $40, but that was in 1996. And other pieces. Varieties, the way to go. There are a lot of others, like the 1942/1 D that I pulled from a bag of junk silver, just before it was gong to be dumped two years ago for .50. Three dealers told me that I had the wrong piece, so I sent it to NGC. Now in an NGC XF-45 holder. Still looking for a 1901 S quarter.
There are any number of experiences I have shared with my daughter that would qualify! That is its own reward, though, and Thalia already has a lighted magnifying glass, so I'll recuse myself from the contest.
Mine was going through my father in law's coin shop and finding an overdate in his scrap silver bucket. I was more excited than he was!
When I was stationed in Berlin, I would walk to a flea market not far from my apartment. One morning, about half way there, a glint of silver on the ground caught my eye. Of course, I stopped to see what it was and found a 1917 Half Mark.
